


Towards the sun

by ElzieGrey



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Minor Angst, Rome is the worst, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:08:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26272381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElzieGrey/pseuds/ElzieGrey
Summary: After Rome, Ed is in Egypt doing nothing even though the world is broken and all his friends are gone or helping. And now Ed thinks he needs to go back, to find out what happened to his missing friends. After all, Ed got lost in Rome, maybe Sasha and Grizzop did too.
Relationships: Edward Keystone & Tjelvar Storsnasson, Ishak al-Tahan & Edward Keystone
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: Rusty Quill Big Bang 2020





	Towards the sun

The sun was filtering through the branches, casting patches of light and shade intermingled around Ed’s feet. It was warm - warmer than anywhere Ed had been except Rome, and dry, in a way that Ed found himself relieved by, for all his normal resistance to the weather. Ed had seen a sunny spot through the window, while checking over his armour and all his gear, that had looked like a good spot to pray. But now he was out in the carefully huddled greenery around the house, he couldn’t seem to find it anymore.

There were the insistent cheeps of a bird nearby though, cutting through the dry rustling of the plants in the breeze and something about it drew Ed’s attention. The cries growing faster the closer he got before a little bird hopped to perch upon a branch a little distance from him, its tail wagging almost frantically as the calls became more insistent. Ed took another step towards it, but it scurried away up the branch further, before turning to look at him side on and cheep and wag all the more.

Ed paused. He was pretty sure the bird was in some kind of distress, but maybe he’d just scared it. He wasn’t sure. He took a careful look around the little shaded area he was in before spotting a second bird, smaller than the first, splayed on the ground, one wing spread out awkwardly.

Ed frowned a little.

‘Is this what you were calling about?’ he asked the cheeping bird, although he realised he barely expected an answer. He shuffled a bit closer, carefully bending down.

The bird in the bush cheeped a few times more before fluttering to another bush.

‘Apollo,’ he began, seeing the slight glow begin around his fingers. ‘Help this bird get better please, it’s only small.’

He leant back frowning; back in London he’d have been told off for using Apollo’s grace carelessly, but it wasn’t as though he had other duties to be getting on with. And Saira had said that he wasn’t to leave the grounds of the country house he and Ishak had been brought back to. And it was fine, he reckoned. He didn’t know what was going on with the world anymore and he didn’t know the language here but there were times when - well - when he looked out of the house and could see the refugees crowding into the town they were on the outskirts of, and wondered if he couldn’t be doing more help if he could… spread Apollo’s favour and healing. Or. Well, he was a paladin after all.

The little bird’s yellow chest began to flutter quickly, up and down.

‘There, there,’ he muttered softly. ‘It’s alright- you’re going to be alright now. Come on.’

It was so small, was the problem, it would probably fit inside his hand. And he didn’t want to hurt it by touching it, but he wasn’t sure if it could get up on its own. He very gingerly reached out to turn it, and then hesitated before his finger could touch it.

No one really seemed to think he could do anything - or they didn’t trust him or - something. Ed didn’t really know. But he hadn’t been allowed to go with Hamid and Azu and he’d known that they were going to do something important. And he could have helped, he thought. He was a paladin after all. And well, Azu was too, but surely more people helping couldn’t harm anything. And the world had broken and he was… in a beautiful house in the middle of Egypt doing nothing.

He understood why he hadn’t been allowed to go with Hamid and Azu. That for the first time in his life no one had known who he was or who his family was. And it should have been a relief except that it had meant he was left behind.

He’d thought at least that Friedrich would have come and claimed him - or someone from the church of Apollo. But Friedrich was gone, they said - or they had no record of him anyway. And the church hadn’t… asked for him. Or at least, not yet. Ed supposed they must have thought he knew what to do on his own, as a paladin and all. But he didn’t.

Back in England everyone had just preferred when he did as he was told and - well, it was serving Apollo, so that was okay. And now, he was away from everyone.

‘Come on, little bird,’ Ed said again, hoping it might move on its own. ‘You’re alright now, I promise.’

The bird didn’t respond. Ed didn’t know exactly what he’d expected.

He moved as carefully as he could to reach his fingers under its wing. It fluttered a little in response, but didn’t move away. It was so small in his hand, bright, vivid yellow reflecting in the small flecks of light coming through the trees.

As he tipped it upright onto his other hand, it began to flutter more insistently and he pulled the hand covering it away as fast as it could. It immediately flew, somewhat unevenly, to another branch, and then away without even a chirp more.

‘Apollo, lord of light, look after those small birds, so they’ll be okay.’ Ed rocked back onto his heels. ‘And please tell me what I am supposed to be doing?’

All Ed could feel was that pulsing summer’s day warmth that always came with reaching to his god. He didn’t know what that was supposed to mean.

‘Golden boy?’ Ishak’s voice filtered through the shrubbery. ‘Are you out here?’

‘Uh - yeah,’ Ed replied, pushing himself to his feet and blinking a little. 

He began making his way back towards the small halfling.

‘Oh!’ Ishak’s face brightened as Ed came into view. ‘Mama told Ismail that we should find you because she wanted to know if you wanted to help her with the plants, I think. I’m not sure, but I’m supposed to bring you to the - um - well I don’t know the word, but anyway. Are you coming?’

Ed couldn’t honestly say he’d taken in half of what Ishak had said, but he nodded anyway. He felt, of all of them, he had a kinship with Ishak. And not just for the week they’d spent in quarantine together - although it helped. But just for the strangeness of it all. The fact that three months ago or two years or whatever it had been, the world had been so completely normal. And now it was anything but. And everyone was acting as though it was completely unremarkable. And yet it wasn’t.

‘Wicked!’ Ishak turned and began walking. ‘Also, Ismail still isn’t teaching me dancing lights. Even though Hamid said he had to. So can you teach me how to fight instead? Because Ismail doesn’t know that so-’

‘I- uh- If your mother says it’s okay.’

Ishak groaned. ‘Fine. But still!’ he perked up. ‘Come on! If mother is meeting you outside, maybe it means we get to leave the compound and -’

Ed followed easily enough, and stopped entirely paying attention to the stream of words coming from the boy he followed.

\---

The house was built up in two parts, a wing on one side built to human heights that Ed could fit into easily, and the rest to generous halfling heights that Ed supposed he could just about stoop into, but with discomfort. He hadn’t been into the halfling side, and from the outside the geometric patterns continued easily from one to the other with very little sign of the join at all.

Behind the house and leading down some steps was a formal garden - the kind Ed recognised from his time among the nobility in England, except for all the differences. The water features were one - in England they always seemed to keep the rivers as far away as possible, and here the water was contained, celebrated. And then were all the plants - Ed didn't exactly know much about flowers but they were all different; different colours, different shades of green.

Ishak led him past them all and round a corner through a little gated area to where Hawaa stood waiting.

'Edward, I am glad you have come.' she began in French - the language Ed had mainly been using around the family - and then rattled off something in Arabic.

Ishak replied in the same tongue, indignantly.

Hawaa sighed. 

'Well, never mind your brother, I will send someone for him as and when. Come along, I thought you might help with my garden.'

Ed looked in confusion back over the garden they had just passed and said nothing.

Ishak muttered something in Arabic miserably and Hawaa's face twisted and broke.

She returned something in pained Arabic and then paused, hands fluttering as though she didn't know whether to approach or not.

There was a moment of silence.

'And you, Edward. I can't thank you enough for bringing my sons home.'

'Oh! I - uh - didn't do much.'

'You did! You saved us! And when - um - Sasha? When her sword exploded - which was epic! You healed her and everything! Did I tell you they were glowing?'

'I think that was just a paladin thing - I mean, Azu and Grizzop were glowing too.'

'Yeah! It was amazing! And there were so many of us and everything was so fast and it was like running and then like holding hands and then we were back and I mean, it was less good then because Hamid was crying and Einstein was saying about the time passing and infection and everything. But it was still cool!'

'Ishak,' Hawaa reprimanded, before adding something in Arabic. ‘But follow me, come. I will show you my garden.’

‘Mama never used to have a garden,’ Ishak muttered to Ed. ‘But now she spends more time with it than with us!’

‘I - hadn’t noticed.’

‘Hadn’t noticed what?’ Hawaa asked - Ed must have been louder than he thought. ‘Look, here we are - how much do you know about growing things, Edward?’

‘Not - much?’ Ed winced a little. They had tended to keep him clear of the gardens before - they seemed to think he would ruin them and Ed hadn’t been sure that they were wrong. Besides, he’d always been better at the more direct parts of guarding against evil. That’s what he’d been told, anyway.

‘Neither did I when I started.’ Hawaa surveyed the plot with a smile. ‘But we needed to do something, and Saira had all of our business sorted - and most of the land we have leased to local farmers, but - I wanted to do something directly.’

‘It looks… good?’

Ishak snorted.

‘I am glad you think so,’ she said, with a chiding look to her son. ‘Now come, you and Ishak can weed and I will check everything over.’

Ishak let out a complaint in Arabic.

‘Then you can learn together. I’m sure Edward is willing to learn, aren’t you?’

Ed inclined his head, and moved where she gestured.

‘There is a solace of a kind, in growing things,’ Hawaa said, once they had settled into their tasks. ‘I hadn’t realised - hadn’t recognised how much I might need it until we moved here permanently.’

‘Why didn’t we stay in Cairo, Mama? Why are there-’

Hawaa said something fast in Arabic, to which Ishak made no reply. There was a moment of silence before she continued. ‘But I have found - well, Ishak tells me that you and Hamid lost some friends, and I know that the world right now must be strange. I thought perhaps this would help.’

Ed didn’t know how to explain that Sasha and Grizzop and the wizard - he thought she was called Eldarion but couldn’t be sure - weren’t his friends. Not that he didn’t - wish that he could bring them back. But he - he had failed them already. He had let go of stabby girl and that was why she hadn’t come back with them and -

At least Apollo didn’t seem to judge him for it too severely. Sasha and Grizzop, he imagined, might have been allowed to go with Hamid and Azu. And help with all the saving the world - or at least doing deeds that were good. In a way that… mattered?

He hadn’t replied, he realised, but Ishak and his mother had begun a conversation of their own. He turned his focus back to the rows of plants he was weeding and began to hum gently under his breath.

‘You must miss your friends in your church quite dearly.’

‘Oh - I - uh - thought Friedrich was going to be so angry with me.’

‘Was he a paladin like you? Are you going to go find him?’

‘He’s - missing. I think.’

‘Oh! So he got all blue veins and that?’ Ishak slumped. ‘I’m glad my friends didn’t.’

Hawaa let out a string of exasperated Arabic. 

‘I don’t mind. Um, talking about it. I mean. Uh - I don’t know if anyone I know is still out there.’

‘Edward. You must keep hope. I know they sent word that your parents-’

Hawaa drifted to a stop. Ed could see Ishak visibly restrain himself from asking questions. Ed didn’t really know why. He guessed there must be some kind of rules about courtesy he was missing.

‘They might yet have gone to America. We can’t be certain - and the church of Apollo isn’t entirely sure there is no-one who knows you left. These things take time.’

‘I - thank you,’ Ed said, more because he felt he ought to than because he believed it.

‘Can I go to America? Hamid’s never been to America, right? And he’s been everywhere, so that would be so cool, wouldn’t it? Have you ever been, Ed?’

‘No. I don’t think many people have.’

‘Well they should. Do you think there are wizards there who will teach me magic? Are you sure you can’t, Ed? I know you said it was different but there’s got to be something you can show me?’

‘Ishak. Give the man some peace.’

‘It’s alright. I - uh - I only know how to pray to Apollo though, and I don’t think you want to do that.’

‘Perhaps we should learn,’ Hawaa mused. ‘I think, I have not remembered enough to be grateful - and I am trying now - to give something back to those people who are suffering and-’ she shook her head. ‘But that is maudlin enough for today. Come, let us go inside and we can all drink some tea and have a rest.’

Ishak let out some kind of indignant noise and a flurry of Arabic.

Hawaa responded and he hurried off for some business or another. ‘I have sent him to find his brother,’ she said, after a moment or two of quiet. ‘I believe they are both quite unaccustomed to being together after spending so long apart and equally unaccustomed to being apart.’

Ed thought it might be true, but didn’t have anything to add.

Hawaa sighed. ‘I just wanted you to know - that if you needed someone to talk with about the - grief and confusion. You can talk about it, Edward.’

Ed nodded. But he didn’t not really. He just wanted to know what he could do. And how to handle the guilt.

\---

Ed didn’t sleep well anymore. His dreams would slip further and further from their calm and peaceful beginnings, tendrils of dark hatred twisting them through his brain until Ed would wake up gasping for breath and trembling, either burning hot or freezing cold, both equally stifling. 

It wasn’t Apollo - that cruelty he’d felt in Rome. Azu had said it wasn’t. But Ed still stared at the wall across from his bed, tracing the patterns of the moonlight the window frame scattered across the far wall. Azu couldn’t have lied; Apollo didn’t hate Ed.

He had dreamed he was home again - back where he grew up - and his father had been angry. And he’d been shouting and then suddenly they’d been in Rome as well, and Ed had been slowly boiling inside his armour, but he couldn’t move because his father had still been shouting and he’d -

He rolled over determinedly. He didn’t have to think about that anymore. He mumbled a prayer to Apollo, and then to Artemis for the moonlight, and chose to go back to sleep.

He was in Rome. Ed knew it was a dream, but it felt real. He could feel the wind pressing gently on his face and the faint hum of leaves rustling in the distance. It was gentle and soft, and the sunshine seemed to hug around him like a cloak. But he was in the palace where the portal had been - looking out down the hill that led to the entrance he and Azu and Sasha and Hamid and Einstein had come to. The portal should have been behind him, but when he turned to look it wasn’t there - just a plain and unthreatening room.

There was a pull, somehow, that drew him outside. He didn’t even need to reach for Apollo, he just had to walk and his feet seemed to know the way; down the hill and into the ruined city, taking turn after turn down unmarked streets. The further he walked the lighter his steps seemed to be, and the more alive the city around him, until he reached a gate to the walled city, where he paused. Leading out of the city he could see fields growing and alive and, behind him, he could hear the memory of laughter. When he turned to look back the palace wasn’t ruined in the distance as he remembered but full, and shone gently in the sunlight.

It had to be some kind of future, he thought - when the land was reclaimed and alive again, because Rome had been evil. He knew that. And this wasn’t that - it was just a city. It was just people.

He turned his back on it and kept walking, following the river south and west and south again, until he turned off and headed purely south. Was this all to say that evil could be defeated? Ed didn’t understand. He lost track of how far he walked until he came across a hill, a villa on top. And something inside him knew that there was someone there important. Someone there he needed to find.

Ed woke to a room flooded with sunlight and the sinking feeling that he had overslept. 

Apollo had given him a dream. He was sure of it.

It was that same certainty that had had him praying and had led to Hannibal’s tomb. Except that - well - Ed hadn’t known what that had meant at all. That had been all down to Tjelvar. 

Tjelvar was missing as well. Ed  _ had _ asked. He’d known about Bertie, of course, from Hamid, even had he might have been tempted to mention the man. He’d asked about Friedrich first, and the church in London. His family had come up naturally from him trying to just explain who he was. They seemed to care about those things. And then well -

Bi Ming had had a list of people he asked after, one and another and another and Ed had -

Ed had felt so awkward having no one he’d asked after Tjelvar. Even though he expected that after all this time for him, Tjelvar might no longer care to hear about Ed. Although, Ed  _ had _ helped find Hannibal’s tomb and retrieve the circlet of command. He supposed it didn’t matter one way or the other, since Tjelvar was missing anyway.

He’d been on a prestigious archeological dig somewhere in Italy, Einstein had said. And since Italy had fallen, and there had been no records of him escaping, they assumed he had been lost.

Ed pulled a breath through himself and got himself up. There was a chance, he supposed, that he might figure it out with more time and there was no point putting off everything else until that happened.

He was downstairs, and investigating the covered platters the servants had brought him for breakfast, when Ishak burst in the door.

‘Ismail is so annoying!’ The boy flung himself onto a chair and rested his head onto his arms on the edge of the table.

‘What - did he do?’

‘He’s just constantly going on about how he’s so much older than me! And how I don’t know anything! And how he needs to practice his magic! And I only don’t know things because he won’t tell me! And no one is telling us anything and I’m so sick of it!’ Ishak threw his head back against the chair he was on and groaned, looking at Ed sideways, as though Ed would know what to do.

Ed did not.

‘Do you have any brothers?’ Ishak asked finally, leaning his head back onto his arms, but still looking up. ‘Were you close? Were they as annoying as Ismail?’

‘We didn’t - uh - we didn’t talk very much.’ Ed said slowly. He paused for a moment. ‘It’s nice that you and your siblings care so much.’

Ishak snorted. ‘Saira doesn’t. She barely leaves her office and Hamid was only back for like a week before he’s - And…’ Ishak trailed off, his eyes beginning to glimmer as his thoughts continued.

‘Hamid was very keen to rescue you.’ Ed said. ‘And Saira seems very busy - they’re both trying to do good things, I think.’

Ishak slumped. ‘I  _ know _ . It doesn’t mean it isn’t the worst.’

Ed put his plate down onto the table and took a seat.

‘Do you think Bi Ming is okay in Cairo?’ Ishak had found a piece of cloth to worry between his hands, but was watching Ed intently.

‘I think so. He’s got Professor Einstein and, uh, Madame Professor Curie to look after him.’

‘Do you think they’ll have found anyone on his list?’

Ed couldn’t say.

‘I still think he should have come here.’ Ishak said. ‘I mean, he was sad about um - Sasha? But he’d be safer here. Everyone says.’

Ed hummed in agreement, and continued eating.

‘Do you think Vesseek and Emeka are okay?’

‘I think they know what they’re doing.’

‘I just think Vesseek was sad.’ Ishak was swinging his legs and looking around as though for some way to cause chaos. Ed didn’t really have any way of stopping him. ‘I just thought we might all get to be friends. You know, the people-who-turned-up-without-realising-everyone-had-got-blue-veins club, or something.’

Ed couldn’t think of a good response, so hastily took another bite of food.

‘Do you think Grizzop and Sasha and Eldarion will ever come back again? It seems so unfair that they just didn’t appear - where do you think they went?’

Ed shrugged. ‘Rome’s easy to get lost in, I guess.’

‘Do you think? So you think they might be somewhere out there? Do you think they’re safe? Maybe we should send someone to find them?’

‘I mean,’ Ed sighed. He wanted to say something about Rome being full of evil. Or about how easy it was to get lost there. Or about how Sasha at least seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself - she was stabby and everything. But - a slow kind of thought was growing on him. ‘I had a strange dream about Rome.’

Ishak sighed deeply. ‘I think we’re all having strange dreams right now.’ He flung himself from the chair and began to wander to the window.

‘No, I mean - from Apollo,’ Ed said. ‘I think there’s something I’m supposed to do there.’

Ishak turned and looked at him for a moment, his eyes lighting back up with energy. ‘Wicked! How cool would it be if we got them back? Ismail couldn’t do that! And maybe then Hamid would teach me magic or take me with him or something.’

Ed began clearing up his plate, not sure what he could say in response that would be definitely true.

‘How are you going to get there?’ Ishak asked, a few moments later. ‘To Rome?’

Ed hadn’t really thought that far. 

Ishak sighed dramatically. ‘I bet I can figure something out! Don’t tell anyone though, or at least, give me like a couple of days, okay? This is going to be so cool - but, um, yeah - don’t tell Saira or Mama, I think they might get mad at me planning something like this. Even if it is for a quest!’

‘A… quest.’ Ed said, although Ishak didn’t seem to hear. Ed had been so excited about them, and something about this instead made him afraid. He didn’t want - to go back to Rome. But Apollo had said. And Ed was a paladin, so that was his job. To do what Apollo said.

‘Can I come too?’ Ishak asked suddenly. ‘I promise I’ll be good and I won’t cause any trouble and -’

‘I don’t think Saira or Hawaa would like that.’ Ed said instead.

Ishak threw his head back dramatically and groaned, ‘ _ Fine _ .’

\---

Ed hadn’t taken Ishak’s offer all that seriously. Ishak was a child after all. And even when he’d seen Einstein visit the house for a meal and Ishak pulled him to a corner to talk, he had assumed that Ishak had been trying to get Einstein to teach Ishak the magic that his brother was refusing him. It was only when Einstein came over that it occurred to Ed to even think of it.

‘Okay, so, Ishak says you want to go to Rome.’ Einstein began. ‘Why?’

‘Uh -’

‘Okay! Ishak said something about some kind of quest? Okay? And I can do it? But why am I having to do this? Can your church not do something?’

‘If it is a lot of trouble, you don’t have to,’ Ed said slowly. ‘Only, do you know anyone else who might take me?’

‘Fine! Okay! I’ll take you! Are you ready now? Do you want time to prepare? You should probably have time to prepare. I’ll come back tomorrow.’

And with that Einstein had disappeared.

Saira had given Ed a confused look, and Ed had just shrugged. He didn’t understand Einstein any better than anyone else seemed to.

  
  


‘Ugh,’ Einstein said, the moment they materialised into the palace, ‘Rome is so bad.’

Ed made a noise of assent. He could feel it already, the way Apollo wasn’t quite there. The horrible sensation of something malicious lingering just out of sight. It was all he could do to not begin to shudder in a way he didn’t know if he’d be able to stop.

He guessed that that was part of what made it a quest. The unpleasantness of it. To be a test of his own goodness and resistance to evil. But he - didn’t like it. 

He just wished he were more sure of what he was supposed to be doing.

‘Okay, so I’ll be back in 5 days, okay?’ Einstein said after only a few moments. ‘So be here, okay. Everyone will be mad if you go missing again. And I’ll get in so much trouble. So don’t do that. Okay?’

‘Yeah,’ Ed said, and was still trying to figure how to express his thoughts when Einstein spoke again.

‘Good! Okay, Bye!’

And the professor was gone. And Ed was alone. In Rome. Again. 

‘Alright,’ he murmured to himself. Not that he needed to be quiet, there was no one else to hear either way. But it made him feel less alone, which seemed important. 

The first step, Ed reckoned was getting out of the palace. The doorway had been barricaded - Einstein must have done it in the year and a half he’d been waiting for them. Ed could dismantle it, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to put it back together so well when he returned. Maybe Stabby Girl would know how but - well - there wasn’t anything about it he could do now.

Outside the sun was blazing as cruelly as it had the last time he was here, still casting the same fierce dark shadows. In the blazing sky in the distance he could see the familiar shimmers of the flying monsters that had plagued him before.

Ed swallowed, his throat dry. ‘It’s a quest.’ he tried to sound firm, to persuade himself. ‘This is an - a - quest.’

He still didn’t move.

‘Right.’ Ed didn’t want to go out there. He didn’t want to be here. 

He hadn’t realised how viscerally he didn’t want to be here until this moment and he -

‘Apollo, I - ’ Ed’s mouth was so dry. ‘Help me do my best. Please.’

There was no response. Ed hadn’t expected one, but it didn’t make him feel much better. At least the clinging hatred hadn’t surged in Apollo’s place. He’d prayed before he’d come to Rome, of course, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still want it here.

Ed stepped down the stairs, one and then another, and kept walking. It was slower than he remembered, and he found himself ducking between shadows, trying to keep from the sight of the dogs he could hear calling overhead.

What if something had happened to Sasha and the other two before he got there? What if he was too late? What if they’d been having to eat the dogs and the frogs and - Ed didn’t want anyone else to have had to have done that. It had been horrible enough for him.

And worse, the streets didn’t quite work how Ed remembered; there were more turns everywhere than in his dream. And Ed began to be increasingly aware of how easily he could get lost again. And then he’d have no hope of doing as Apollo wanted and worse -

He didn’t know how long later it was that he stumbled across a city gate, barely sure if it was the one he remembered or not. The walls had long since crumbled, and there was the remains of a vast cemetery beyond the gate Ed didn’t remember. Looking back he could just about see the Palace, but it was warped and collapsed and utterly unlike his dream.

The growing fields he remembered were wrong too - brown and dead. Rocky ground on which plants had tried to grow and only the sturdiest had survived. Another reflection of how wrong everything about this place was. 

It all looked, really, like the borderlands Ed had so quickly become lost in on his pilgrimage to Rome with Friedrich. Where he’d seen evil and had to smite it. Except here, there was very little by the way of evil. At least, so far.

Just dead land, and the broken up remains of a road heading at an angle toward the sun. There was a river as well, Ed realised, once he had passed a little beyond the empty gate. The small amount of water flowing in it was dirty and unpleasant and the cloud of midges floating around it and making the air around it flicker stopped him from going any closer.

The heat was slowly starting to penetrate its way through his armour - not in a way that was uncomfortable, just in a way that made him all the more aware of where he was and what his surroundings were. He was contemplating this and the path ahead of him, when the first dog descended. The struggle was less bad than it could have been, all considered - he got a good swipe in and the dog flew away - but he doubted it would last, and he began running down the road, hoping it would match with what he remembered.

He was only a little past what he thought was the distinctive spot he’d seen in his dreams, where he’d turned to walk towards the sun - hoping that it wasn’t just going to get him even more lost - when the dogs descended again. Two of them this time, and another’s howls ringing on the wind.

He struck one cleanly and the other bit at his leg. It was all Ed could do to not fall to his knees immediately with the pain, but to keep fighting and backing away and hoping, until eventually he just began to run, stumbling over the jagged ground, praying under his breath for some kind of safety, somewhere to hide.

And he saw a hill in the distance and a small ruined village nestled at the bottom.

And the dogs were in the air, calling but not attacking.

Ed slowed as he found himself entering the ruined village, the buildings half deconstructed and half weathered with age. The hill had seemed almost familiar, but the hamlet shouldn’t have been here and he was so tired and so lost. He heard a sound, and turned, half expecting to see more monsters.

And after that he didn’t know much at all.

When Ed woke up, he was pleasantly warm. He wondered for a second if he was dead, except that everything was dark and he - he figured - he hoped that - well, Apollo probably wouldn’t fill the afterlife with darkness.

Apollo wasn’t there either. There wasn’t the other presence, at least - or, it was there, but further away.

It was only when Ed started automatically trying to pray that he realised the gag in his mouth, and then the fact that his arms and legs were bound. Which … definitely wasn’t reason to panic. 

Ed had been in worse situations. Probably.

Ed tried to pray inside his head instead - to reach out. But Apollo wasn’t there. There was just - silence. Which was better than hate. Right?

He didn’t know where he was. Which might be a problem getting back but -

He didn’t know where he was. And what if they had taken the mobile stone? Was Ishak going to get into trouble?

Was he…

There were voices coming towards him. Maybe that was what had woken him. He couldn’t figure out what they were saying. It took a moment to realise he didn’t recognise the language. 

And then there was light being cast through an open doorway and a tall, dark skinned woman was entering the room. And then -

‘Eddie! Good lord! Is that you?’

Ed tried to respond automatically, but the noise was garbled by the gag again. And then Tjelvar had swept around the woman to remove it.

‘Eddie. What on earth are you doing here?’

‘I - hello,’ he said. ‘I’m on a quest. I thought -’

‘Where did you say you found him?’ Tjelvar had turned to the woman, still speaking in English.

‘I told you,’ the woman replied, frowning, in slightly more thoughtful English. ‘In the village.’ She added something else more rapidly in another language.

‘Are you - are you infected?’ Ed asked, when they seemed to have finished. ‘Only, I was only told to look for Blue Veins, and I can’t see any. But maybe -’

‘Ed.’ Tjelvar sighed. Ed figured he’d already irritated him. Ed had hoped from the greeting maybe they were still friends. ‘If we were, do you think we’d just tell you?’

‘Well, maybe. Lying’s bad.’ Ed remembered Hamid saying he was allowed to. But Hamid was different so maybe that was why.

Tjelvar just looked at Ed for a moment before sighing. ‘I suppose that means you don’t think you are either?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Ed replied, thinking about it a little bit. ‘I mean, I don’t think I’ve met anyone who was. Unless you were. Or the flying dogs. Can dogs get infected? What’s happened to all the animals if everyone’s got infected?’

‘We don’t know Eddie. And I don’t think that’s necessarily been anyone’s concern. But…’

‘Why should we trust you?’ the woman asked.

‘Oh. I’m a Paladin. I don’t lie - it would be evil.’ Ed said. ‘None of you are evil, are you?’

‘No, Eddie. We are not.’ Tjelvar responded somewhat tiredly.

‘Oh. Well that’s alright then.’ Ed settled back down, not even realising he had been trying to be more to attention. ‘I don’t suppose you can untie me now?’

‘Is he -’ the woman began and then broke off, and switched to their other language.

Ed was considering beginning to pray, he was sure they wouldn’t mind and - well - it felt like a good time for it but…

Tjelvar made some approximation of a laugh. ‘He rather lacks the wherewithal to lie that convincingly.’

‘Hey -’ Ed said automatically. ‘I mean. I don’t - I’m not stupid. Lying’s evil.’

He was pretty sure that was what Tjelvar was getting at. He couldn’t be entirely sure of course, but it was what that tone of voice normally meant.

Tjelvar and the woman both continued talking in the language Ed didn’t understand.

‘Apollo,’ he began, ‘I don’t know if you can hear me. But -’

‘How did you get here?’ the woman asked. Ed was pretty sure that it was rude of her to interrupt his prayer but - maybe he was missing something.

‘Oh. I walked.’

‘Walked from where, Eddie?’ Tjelvar asked.

‘Oh. The palace. I think it’s a palace. Well, I mean - I don’t know - you brought me here from the - the village?’

The woman was frowning at him with a look of utter confusion. Ed knew the look well, but normally he was the one wearing it. It was good to know he wasn’t alone he guessed.

‘And, how did you get to the palace?’ Tjelvar was speaking very clearly now. Which Ed thought was strange. There was nothing wrong with his ears. ‘Where was the palace?’

‘Oh. In Rome,’ Ed said. ‘And I was brought there - by -’ Ed hesitated. ‘Are you sure you’re not infected? Only I don’t want to get anyone in trouble.’

‘Yes. We’re fairly certain.’ Tjelvar said, glancing at the woman again. ‘We’ve been here for long enough I’m sure that one of us would have noticed by now. Thankfully, I suppose.’

‘More than a week then?’ Ed asked.

‘Huh?’

‘That’s how long you’ve got to be in quarantine.’ Ed said. ‘Or. That’s how long they made us stay. A week.’

‘Who made you quarantine?’ the woman asked.

‘Oh - uh - um - everyone in Cairo,’ Ed said. ‘Except Hamid and Azu, but I guess maybe they quarantined somewhere else. I wanted to go with them but they wouldn’t let me. I guess maybe that’s better since I was supposed to come here so-’

‘You came from Cairo?’ 

‘Well - no. I was at, uh, Ishak’s house. But we only went there after we’d been quarantined in Cairo, so we didn’t get anyone in danger. Except that, well, we left before all this happened so I still don’t know how we would have got it. But they were worried so I guess -’

‘Eddie, what?’ Tjelvar cut in. ‘What do you mean you left before? What?’

‘Oh. ‘Cause we got lost,’ Ed said. ‘Well, first I got lost because there’s a lot of evil here. And then I found Hamid - and Azu and S- Sasha. But then we got lost in the palace - or, we went somewhere - and then when we came back, everything had gone wrong.’

Tjelvar stared at him for a moment but then the woman was talking rapidly in the foreign language again. Ed wondered if he’d have time to pray this time.

‘These people, Ed,’ Tjelvar spoke almost cautiously. ‘Hamid, Azu and Sasha you said? Are they here too? Or Ishak or?’

‘Oh, no,’ Ed said. These, at least, were questions he could answer. ‘I came alone. Or well - Sasha might still be here. I was looking for her.’

‘That was your… quest?’

‘Apollo sent me.’ Ed agreed. ‘She got lost when we were coming back. And Grizzop and, uh, Eldarion too. I think I’m supposed to be finding them. But then I got lost so -’

Tjelvar sighed again, before saying something to the woman in the other language.

‘I don’t suppose you could untie me now?’ Ed asked again. It was getting uncomfortable was all. ‘I think I’m supposed to be praying but I want to know if you want to ask me more questions. Because I don’t think it’s good to be interrupted.’

The woman looked at Tjelvar in a kind of pointed way. He said something in the language Ed didn’t understand.

‘It’s on you,’ she said, bending to undo the knots, ‘If he does anything untoward.’

‘Sure,’ Tjelvar agreed. ‘But you won’t. Will you Eddie?’

‘Is untoward like evil?’ Ed asked. ‘Because I don’t don’t do that.’

‘No, you rather smite evil, don’t you.’ Tjelvar said quietly, but didn’t really wait for a response. ‘You can pray or whatever it is you need to do. We’ll just wait by the door, and then you may as well come through. I guess there’s no point separating you from everyone else, anyway.’

Ed was going to ask who everyone else was - to ask if they’d found Grizzop or Sasha - but they were walking back to the doorway.

‘Apollo,’ Ed began, deciding to ignore them for now. ‘I don’t know if you can hear me here. But I think I might have got lost again. But I’m doing my best to do the quest you gave me. And if I did get lost, maybe you can help me get back. Make sure Ishak and Hamid and Azu are okay. And Hawaa and Saira and Ismail and Einstein if that’s okay. Also, thank you for helping me find Tjelvar and his friends. It’s nice to not be alone I think. Okay.’

Ed tried to think for a moment if there was anything else he could offer to Apollo but he was struggling. It was strange reaching out and feeling so little in response. Just a yawning nothing where Apollo was supposed to be.

‘I’ll keep smiting evil though,’ Ed finally added. ‘Like I’m supposed to. Yeah.’

He waited habitually for a little longer just to see if he felt the warmth from Apollo, but nothing came.

He shrugged a little and rose to his feet, turning to fold the blankets that had been bundled around him into a neat kind of form.

‘Uh, Tjelvar?’ he asked. Tjelvar turned suddenly, raising an eyebrow curiously. ‘Should I leave these blankets here or bring them?’

‘Bring them. We just didn’t want you dying in your sleep.’

‘Oh,’ Ed said. ‘Well, thanks.’ He picked them up. ‘I think my - uh - weather protection from Apollo was still working though. So I wouldn’t have died anyway.’

‘You cast it before you came to Rome?’ the woman asked.

‘Yeah. Professor Einstein said I had to. Because Rome is the worst. He says that a lot though.’

‘Einstein -’ Tjelvar stopped moving and blinked slowly. ‘Do you mean Einstein as in one of the leading heads of the university of Prague? He’s in Rome?’

‘Oh, no. He left,’ Ed said. ‘After bringing me here. And then I walked until I found the village, where you found me.’

The woman muttered something in the other language again. Ed recognised the tone though. Apparently he’d done something wrong again. He just wasn’t quite sure what.

\---

‘Ariana thinks you must have come to save us,’ Tjelvar said, lowering himself to the ground beside Ed.

Ed looked up from his musings of the fire. He didn’t really know what to believe about most of what had happened around him, and the more time passed the less sure he was. His dreams hadn’t made any sense and he was - so confused.

‘Ariana?’

Tjelvar smiled, and half shook his head. ‘Ariana’s the little one - Lucio’s daughter. He was my host for the dig in Ostia. She’s precocious though - I’m surprised she hasn’t come to speak to you herself.’

Ed blinked for a second, taking it in. ‘Oh, she did. Only we don’t speak the same language, and I guess she got bored?’

‘She thought you were trying to use some magical device - but most magic doesn’t work here. She was also very insistent I tell you that.’

‘Oh,’ Ed had been wondering why Ishak hadn’t been responding to the stone, but he had figured he had just so completely lost track of time that he was always calling at bad times.

‘What were you trying to do?’ Tjelvar asked more gently than Ed was accustomed. Perhaps he was just tired.

‘Uh - the professor gave me a thing so I could talk to him.’

‘Which isn’t working because the magic here doesn’t work.’ Tjelvar completed. ‘Well, that’s easy enough - we should be able to climb up the hill. Magic seems a bit more stable there, in as much as magic here works in any way we might expect. Come, gather your things and I’ll see what Maram says.’

By the time Ed had gathered his belongings and stood, Tjelvar was waiting by a boarded over section of wall, talking to the woman who hadn’t been there when Ed had initially awoken. She stared at him as he approached, and asked something pointedly of Tjelvar as soon as he came to a stop before the two.

Tjelvar responded calmly in the same language. The woman huffed, and glared at Ed.

Ed gave her his most winning smile. She ignored it to help Tjelvar lift the boarded section.

‘Come on, Eddie,’ Tjelvar said, the moment it was clear. Bright light from the upper levels of the building cascaded through to where they huddled. Tjelvar stepped out into it immediately.

Ed followed obediently.

‘Did I do something to upset her?’ Ed asked as soon as they were back on the surface. The heat here was less bad than Ed remembered, but still fierce. Ed tried to reach out to Apollo again and all he could feel was that sliding away glimpse of sunshine.

He fought hard not to sigh. Tjelvar had been talking, he realised. He hadn’t been listening at all.

He hoped it wasn’t important.

Tjelvar looked at Ed for a moment, some expressions Ed couldn’t make out flitting over his face.

‘It’s just that you have practically fallen from the sky and I know you and it seems - unlikely. They heard whispers about the infection before it began to spread through Italy, you see - that people would come back who you remembered, recognised. But that they were never themselves.’

Ed considered it. ‘But I am me?’

Tjelvar shook his head and began walking. ‘We’ve been here, gods know, over two months I reckon? It’s hard to keep track of time. We didn’t know how long we were - what we could -’

Ed followed Tjelvar studiously, and considered this. ‘How did you end up here? I didn’t think people were allowed in? Did you get lost too?’

Tjelvar laughed. It was not a pleasant sound. ‘The cult of Mars were in disarray honestly, by the time it came to that - Lucio, Ariana and I were heading south trying to outrun the rumours of infection, and Maram and Yasmin were travelling the other way. We realised pretty quickly neither was safe, and there were no boats left to take to see, so we figured that the borderlands were as good a place to hide as any.’

‘But Rome is evil,’ Ed frowned. ‘It’s not good being here.’

‘No.’ Tjelvar seemed to be holding in some emotion. ‘We’re well aware of that by now.’

They proceeded in silence, Ed following Tjelvar, and they began out of the village and up the hill. It was so like the one in Ed’s dreams and so unlike it as to make him shiver in discomfort. He looked back towards where he supposed Rome should be, scanning the horizon for any of the monsters he expected, but there was nothing in sight.

‘There was… a lot of evil in Rome. Before,’ Ed said, trying to see Tjelvar’s face to know if it was an okay thing to ask about.

‘Yes, Eddie,’ Tjelvar said, in that way that made Ed feel he’d said something particularly witless. ‘You have said that.’

‘It’s why I got lost. ‘Cause there was evil. And I had to smite it. And then I got lost.’

‘You were lost?’

‘Yeah, well, I mean, Friedrich told me to stay with him. But, well, I don’t know. I got lost. I thought I was going to be in so much trouble.’

‘Why did you go back?’ Tjelvar’s face was doing something strange again.

‘What do you mean?’ Ed paused, Tjelvar beside him was sweating under the unrelenting sun. Ed realised he was too, he just had forgotten to pay attention to it. ‘I came back to find Sasha and Grizzop and Eldarion. I told you that.’

‘Ye-es. But it’s been the better part of two years since you were in Albertville heading to Rome. So, why did you go back to Rome after your pilgrimage?’

‘Oh, I didn’t. I got lost on the pilgrimage.’

‘Wait -’ A huge frown made its way across Tjelvar’s face. ‘What? How long were you lost in Rome for?’

Ed shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe two weeks? Time doesn’t really work here. And then I found Hamid and Azu and Sasha and Professor Einstein.’

‘And how long were you were you with Hamid and Azu in Rome? Before you went to Cairo?’

‘Oh-’ Ed thought about it. ‘Well, uh - not long. Well - We went through the portal thing in the palace. And it broke time.’

‘Which means what exactly?’

‘Well, when we came back, Professor Einstein said it had been like a year and a half,’ Ed said. ‘Which seems a bit like time being broken.’

Tjelvar thought about that for a moment, a fierce scowl on his face. He walked a few more steps, but not in a way that Ed thought he was supposed to follow. Ed peered around their surroundings again. Just in case.

‘So we could wait out everything in this portal?’

‘Oh - no! No - It’s well bad there.’ Ed said. ‘And anyway we’d need, uh, Eldarion, I think it was. Because she was the lady who brought us back. But then she got lost.’

‘Along with your other friends.’ Tjelvar said, and it wasn’t exactly a question. But it felt like a question. 

‘Yeah - so, uh, when we find them then maybe that would work. But I was supposed to find them here I thought. And then maybe I got lost? But I don’t know. I’m so confused.’

‘Right.’ Tjelvar said.

‘But uh, I mean, if we went back to the Palace then the professor could just teleport you to Cairo, I think.’ Ed had been thinking about it in the time he’d been waiting in the cellar trying to figure out what to do. ‘Since you don’t have the blue veins thing. Uh, do you think I can talk to Ishak now? Or do we need to go further?’

Tjelvar blinked a few times, looking at the barren hill side they were on. ‘No, this should be fine. Don’t take too long though. This place is safer than most we travelled through but - well, your evil does like to perk its head up more than I’d like.’

Ed pulled his stone from his pack and held it close to his mouth. ‘Uh, Ishak?’

‘Golden boy!’ Ishak’s voice came a second later. ‘I was so worried, you were supposed to talk to me every evening! Where were you?’

‘I lost track of time.’ Ed said finally. Looking out at the sun for a moment as though he had any hope that it might be any different from any other time he’d looked at it here. It wasn’t.

‘So have you found them yet? Because it’s going to be so wicked when you come back like having saved everyone so - you’ve got to tell me.’

Ed laughed a little at Ishak’s excitement. The noise didn’t sound quite right.. ‘Not yet. I - um - I had another dream though - and I found more people. They got lost here too. So I think I should help them too.’

‘Other people?’ Ishak’s voice changed entirely. ‘Are they like, safe and?’

‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Oh, well that’s okay then.’ He audibly relaxed. ‘Are they going to help you find the others as well or?’

‘I don’t know. But I thought I should let you know I was okay.’

‘Yeah!’ Ishak bounced again. ‘No, yeah, you need to do that. I’ll call you again this evening! Maybe then you’ll have found everyone. Wait! What was that about the dream? Oh wait, never mind, I’ve got to go, Saira’s coming over.’

The stone fell silent. Ed looked at it blankly for a second.

‘Was that a child?’ Tjelvar asked from beside him.

‘I think he’s more like a - teenager?’ Ed said hesitantly. ‘It was Ishak.’

‘And why is a teenager the only person you have contact to while you deliberately isolated yourself in Rome?’

‘Oh he’s not. Einstein knows I’m here too. He’ll be back in five days, so I have another day to look for them and then we’ll have to go back to Rome or else you might not meet him. I think.’

‘I - uh- right.’ Tjelvar paused. ‘Eddie, how long did it take you to walk from Rome here?’

‘A day, I think.’ Ed said. ‘Time is well weird here.’

‘Right.’ Tjelvar hesitated. ‘Do you know the way back?

‘Yeah. ‘Course.’ Ed wasn’t  _ stupid _ . ‘We go that way towards Rome. And then when we reach the river we turn right. And then, when we find the city gate we turn towards the palace.’

There was a moment of silence. Ed didn’t know if Tjelvar was actively not speaking like his father did sometimes when he was really angry, or if he was just thinking about what he was next going to say.

‘What - what were you saying about the dreams?’ Tjelvar said at last. ‘Was that about your nightmares last night?’

Ed swallowed. He hadn’t realised anyone had noticed. ‘I didn’t mean to wake anyone up.’

‘No, you didn’t.’ Tjelvar paused. ‘I just - I don’t sleep well anyway. But - why were they… relevant?’

‘Oh.’ Ed thought for a moment. ‘I had dreams that made me come here.’

‘Which is how you found us?’ Tjelvar concluded. ‘But you think you might have got lost?’

‘I don’t know. I had one yesterday and there was Sasha and some children and a house. Only they were dressed weird. And everything here is broken. But I don’t know. I think I did it wrong. Maybe it’s just Rome being… Rome.’

‘Right.’ Tjelvar said again. Ed wondered if Tjelvar was going to understand it better than him or explain it like before but instead Tjelvar just let the word hover. ‘I think we should probably walk to Rome today, Eddie. So long as there is somewhere safe we can shelter there?’

‘The palace is safe. Professor Einstein did that,’ Ed said, a bit nonplussed. ‘But what about Hamid’s friends?’

Tjelvar sighed, his hand coming to the bridge of his nose.

Ed frowned, and began to walk back down the hill, resisting the urge to kick some of the stones along the way. It was hot and unpleasant, and he really didn’t need to do anything more than he had to. But still. Tjelvar didn’t have to think that Ed  _ wouldn’t _ find them.

‘I just got lost.’ Ed said, turning to where Tjelvar was quietly following. ‘I just need to walk it again and I’ll find them and…’

Tjelvar just looked at him for a moment.

‘Perhaps - perhaps I could help you, Eddie? To find them. But - can we find your professor Einstein first? Only Ariana and Lucio shouldn’t be here. None of us should but -’ Tjelvar took a deep breath. ‘Please, Eddie?’

\---

It didn’t take Ed long to realise that maybe Tjelvar had been right to insist they leave sooner. Everyone had packed up faster than Ed had expected - he didn’t know if they’d been considering it since they’d found him, or if they’d simply lived so ready to move from the moment they had arrived.

But despite that, they moved slower as a group of six than he had alone. And walking, somewhat without direction and hoping, Ed was more aware of how much he had run and hurried on his initial journey. It hadn’t felt safe. And it still didn’t feel safe. But now they could only walk at the pace of Arianna who couldn’t have been older than seven or so. And was, accordingly, slower than the rest of the party might have been. Even accounting for the packs everyone carried.

They did, at least, reach the river before the first attack came. A single dog hardly stood up to four fighters, no matter how pale Lucio went, or how his daughter gripped at his arm. Once the dog had collapsed under the onslaught, Ed started to realise that he didn’t recognise the river. Which probably meant nothing. But might have meant they had got slightly lost.

He was fairly certain it was, at least, the right river. And the right road. Just maybe - more of a walk than he had initially anticipated. The heat was getting worse the more they travelled, and Ed didn’t know if it was the proximity to the city itself or the exercise, but he didn’t much like it either way.

Arianna was barely holding together her gasping horror, and, holding her close to his side, her father didn’t seem much happier. Tjelvar took several minutes calming him in what Ed assumed was Italian, while the women cleaned their weapons calmly.

Ed could see the tiredness in the way they all held themselves and yet -

‘I don’t think we should stay here,’ he said, with as much confidence as he could muster. ‘It’s not a good place.’

‘Is anywhere here a good place?’ Maram asked, somewhat gruffly.

‘No, but this is more bad.’ Ed was sure of that, if nothing else. ‘There’s nowhere to hide, and they always seem to come to the places the others die.’

There was a short silence after that, which Tjelvar broke in what Ed thought was the language the sisters spoke. They replied immediately, a short conversation breaking out among the three.

Ed gripped his Morningstar more tightly and looked around them.

‘Okay, Eddie,’ Tjelvar said at last. ‘Lead on.’

By the time they had reached the city gate, Ed could see that Arianna was struggling to keep going. He was tempted to offer to carry her or suggest a break, but he wasn’t exactly sure how. And before he’d made his mind up, he was asked the directions to continue, and the sisters began through the city with far less restraint than Ed would have shown himself.

He wasn’t even sure they knew the way. 

They were attacked again not far from the palace. One dog descending, and then another, and the calls of others growing even closer.

By the time they realised they had to run one of the sisters had taken a slash to her leg and Arianna’s face was tracked through with tears.

Ed almost thought they had made it. He’d been holding off the rear when a dog got a bite at his arm. It fell back a moment later as one of Tjelvar’s arrows shot into its shoulders and Ed staggered his way back to where Tjelvar had been waiting. They both ran.

By the time he collapsed at the entrance to the palace, the dogs were no longer following them. Tjelvar stood panting above him, his eyes grazing across their surroundings with more focus than Ed could muster.

‘Is he alright?’ Yasmin’s voice, Ed thought.

‘He got bitten - I don’t know.’ Tjelvar. Ed’s arm hurt, a lot. He hadn’t realised. He was still holding his Morningstar at least. He’d be in so much trouble if he lost that. ‘Eddie - you have to go inside.’

Ed pushed himself up, nearly buckling at the weight he put through his arm. 

‘Is it safe here?’ Yasmin asked. Ed wasn’t sure if the question was meant for him, but it was in English at least.

‘Yeah - the professor, uh - magic also works here.’ he added. There was a wall just past Yasmin, inside, and if he could reach it, he could rest. Because they’d be safe here. And he could just take a few moments before trying to figure out what was wrong with his arm.

Voices swum around him.

‘We can’t go in the portal!’ he added, when he remembered. That was important. They couldn’t - it was dangerous. Someone’s hand pressed briefly against his shoulder, and he was fairly certain the soothing voice that accompanied it was directed at him.

He was just -

He just had to -

He reached around for the stone he’d been given and pulled it to his face. 

‘Ishak?’ he asked. Tjelvar and Yasmin were rebarricading the entrance, Ed couldn’t see where the other three had gone. But he didn’t suppose it was far.

There was an extended silence from the stone, and Ed had almost thought he would have no response when Ishak spoke, hushed.

‘Golden boy! Are you okay?’

‘We just - reached the palace.’ Ed felt as though the words were coming from a distance. But he had to focus.

‘Oh wicked! And you’re not, you know, veiny or anything?’

‘No - I don’t think so.’ Ed said. He was - so tired. And he didn’t - there was something - it was probably fine.

‘So, did you find everyone then?’ Ishak asked, with palpable excitement. All attempts to mind his own volume gone.

‘No.’ Ed said, concentrating as hard as he could. ‘We thought - there are some people who shouldn’t be here, and they weren’t where I thought and - I’ll keep looking.’

‘Oh.’ Ishak sounded like he was about to say something else, and then there was silence. Which was followed by rapid speech between Ishak and Ismail - and then Saira’s voice clamoured in.

Everyone else in the room was looking at him curiously, but Ed didn’t really know how to stop the sound coming through and there was, well - there was something very comforting about hearing their voices. He’d grown accustomed to them, he supposed.

‘Edward.’ Saira’s voice rang out of the stone more directly.

‘Hello.’ Ed startled back to attention.

‘What is going on? Where’ve you gone? I understand it from Ishak but why didn’t  _ you _ tell me about these communication stones?’

‘Oh, uh. I didn’t realise I should. Professor Einstein didn’t say anything -’

‘Oh for -’ Saira sighed loudly. ‘Right, tell me where you are and what’s going on.’

Ed hesitated. He was - He had just wanted to tell Ishak that they were okay. He hadn’t expected -

‘Eddie,’ Tjelvar stood over him. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Who is that?’ Saira’s voice rang out of the stone.

‘It’s Tjelvar,’ Ed said, his voice seemed a bit fuzzy. ‘I helped him find Hannibal’s Tomb.’

‘What?’ Saira’s sharp voice and then ringing sounds of foreign languages were the last thing Ed remembered.

\---

Ed woke up slowly, without remembering any dreams. He was - he was -

He was in Rome. With Tjelvar and the others. And he was -

‘Hey. Eddie. Slow down.’ 

Ed paused halfway to standing. And settled back down to simply sitting.

‘You can’t go in the portal.’

‘Yes, I know. You told us.’ Tjelvar seemed calm, so that had to be a good thing. Right?

‘You didn’t go in, did you?’

‘No Eddie. We didn’t just waltz into the glowing light thing in the corner.’

‘Oh, well, that’s good then.’ Ed looked around. ‘What happened?’

‘Whatever that animal did seemed to have knocked you down pretty badly, but Yasmin says you should be alright now.’ Tjelvar paused. ‘And Saira says that she’ll try to let Einstein know to expect us. I think. She was - well never mind. Are you feeling … well?’

Ed paid attention to his body for a second.

‘Yeah. I think. Is Ishak okay? And - uh - Maram?’

‘Maram’s fine. She just bandaged her leg and it seems to be holding alright.’ Tjelvar paused. ‘Saira seemed quite distressed that you hadn’t told her that you were coming here.’

‘Oh.’ Ed thought. ‘It just happened pretty quickly.’

Tjelvar hummed. ‘I figured. Well, nonetheless. I’m sure she can talk to you about it when we’re back.’

Ed thought about that for a moment.

‘She also has told us that she’ll be keeping in contact far more, and that she expects Einstein to bring us all back.’

‘But what about-?’ Ed slumped. His arm ached, but he could just about ignore it. He instinctively reached out to Apollo only to feel the wall of anger slam back down against him.

‘I’m sorry, Eddie.’

There was a pause. Ed didn’t quite know what to say. He was - angry, he realised. In a kind of frustrated way he usually got when people asked about his family. And he didn’t quite know why but he was - he just wanted to -

What had he even been brought here to do?

‘Did you -’ Tjelvar hesitated. ‘Do you know if anyone has explored this place?’

‘No.’ Ed paused. And then took a breath, it wasn’t Tjelvar’s fault. ‘Einstein might have. I don’t know. Why?’

‘Well, it’s a historical marvel - we know so little about Rome because no one comes here. Because it’s dangerous, which, well, obviously it’s dangerous. But, it means that we only know over a thousand year of hearsay and what little the Meritocrats have said. But there is so much more to learn about the history of these things, and there’s just this giant lack of any knowledge. And well, it’s not every day you have unparalleled access to one of the last remaining artefacts of the old world. This place has been barely touched in - well, over a thousand years!’

‘Alright?’ Ed said. He wasn’t entirely sure if there was anything he was supposed to gather from the statement. He definitely didn’t. ‘But no one comes here, because Rome’s the worst.’

‘Yes, but -’

‘I got lost, and Hamid and Azu had their siblings kidnapped. You had no other choice?’ Ed frowned. ‘And there were some uh, cloaked people I guess. I don’t know why they were here either actually. But they don’t seem to be here now at least.’

‘Wait - cloaked people?’ Tjelvar said, thrown. ‘Who were they?’

‘I don’t know.’ Ed said. ‘They were cloaked.’

‘Good.’ Tjelvar said in a tone that suggested it wasn’t. ‘Well anyway, it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here since you were a few days ago. But I was wondering if you think it’s safe to explore the palace - or what’s left of it? We have a whole day until Einstein arrives, as far as I can tell, and it would be a waste to not at least attempt to gather some information on it.’

‘I - uh -‘ Ed paused. ‘If you think it’s important we can do that once I have my armour on.’

‘I wasn’t -’ Tjelvar stopped. ‘Right, okay. Well let me know when you’re ready then I guess.’

\---

The tunnels beneath the palace were cold; the stone dry taste rested on Ed's tongue. It was devoid of life in a way Ed had never experienced before, and he felt himself wanting to shrink away from the feeling as much as from all the other strangeness of being back in the city itself.

Tjelvar was studying everything with a concentrated frown, pausing often to make marks on the scroll he was carrying with him.

'How far do you reckon this goes?' It wasn't exactly that Ed was bored so much as he found the lack of everything here even more unnerving than the boiling heat above ground. There, at least, he knew what monsters lurked, the scope of them.

Here, he had no idea.

'Your guess is as good as mine,' Tjelvar replied, stopping to examine a sculpture that lay in a hollow in the wall.

Ed wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a god or some long forgotten Roman dignitary. He didn't dare ask. He wondered if that was one of the evils of Rome, the fact that you couldn't tell. But that seemed like more something the cults would be angry about, not the meritocrats. Then again, it wasn't as though Ed really understood politics. He was probably missing something.

'Where do you think they go?'

'Hmm? All sorts of places probably, bolt holes entrances and exits, maybe for deliveries? If there were more remains we might know better, but there aren't. And so-' Tjelvar trailed off, his hand hovering mid gesture as his attention was caught by something else.

Ed thought for a moment. He'd been trying to pay attention, was the thing. Trying to be helpful, not that he exactly knew what it was archeologists were supposed to do, but dungeon clearing was something paladins did sometimes. There had always been people willing to secret away their treasures behind dangerous traps and magical defences. Sometimes the church would see fit to have evildoing scrubbed away. And it wasn't something that Ed had exactly been trained for, but he had enjoyed helping with Hannibal's tomb enough that he'd thought about it.

'So, what's at the bottom?'

'Hmm?'

'Cause we keep taking paths going downwards. So where do you think they're going? That can't be a delivery entrance, right? Can it?’

Tjelvar hummed for a second. ‘Eddie, that - is an excellent question. Why don’t we go see?’

‘What about the statues and uh… wall thingies?’

Tjelvar was already walking purposefully down the passageway, adjusting his hat with one hand. ‘We’ll come back for them - probably. I’d never have time to document everything here in the time we have, so why not follow our noses?’ He paused at a junction to make a small notation on his scroll, before continuing.

Ed followed, watching the statues and sculptures as they passed. Tjelvar was keeping to the larger passageway once he’d found it and Ed couldn’t help his relief at the sense of progress it gave. He understood vaguely that archeology probably took time and what Tjelvar was doing was important. It was just, standing still and doing nothing wasn’t what he was  _ good _ at.

Tjelvar slowed as they approached an opening and fell silent. Ed did the same beside him.

Though the doorway was a giant cavern filled with slanted light. The harsh brightness was pouring through a gash through the ceiling where the bricks had come away and most of one wall had fallen. The sharp relief of the light and dark made something inside Ed tingle unpleasantly; it didn’t feel - right.

It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the interior and when he did he felt a strange nausea rise up in him despite himself. They’d come across skeletons in the rest of their explorations. Not many, and largely ignorable, but the scope here was -

It must have been a massacre. And no one had moved the bodies, or put them to rights.

Ed couldn’t help the prayer that bubbled out of his mouth, even when he knew it wouldn’t reach his god. Or he wouldn’t feel if Apollo heard it anyway. He hoped Apollo could still hear.

Tjelvar took a few steps into the room, his head peering up at the cracked dome and then back around the room. He turned back for a moment, and looked at Ed with a look of open astonishment.

‘Eddie - do you - this might be - I can’t express how -’ He shook his head, pinched his nose briefly, and began walking straight to the centre of the room, walking around all the destruction between. There was some kind of giant pit, beneath the dome, and Ed watched as Tjelvar crossed from the darkness into the blinding light as though it were nothing.

He swallowed again, his throat oddly dry. He hated the darkness, he truly did, but he didn’t want to be in the sunlight here either. It was… wrong. There were too many bodies for him to perform the rites on anyway. And maybe you weren’t supposed to for bodies that had been lying for over a thousand years, but Ed felt strange about it anyway. The room felt unsettled; uneasy as though some great horror had befallen it. As though even the creatures that haunted Rome didn’t dare approach.

It was only as he looked around again that he spotted it; hardly 20 foot from where he stood was a cleared space amidst the havoc. And right in the centre was a small stone panel, a few inches thick. He would have mistaken it for some of the other rubble, except for the sharp edges and the shadows that they cast. 

Ed cast another look at Tjelvar who was scribbling furiously over by the pit, the light shifting around him dramatically with each move he made. And then Ed walked towards the tablet, bending down to clean it or try to understand it. But then he could read it,

_ Here died Grizzop drik acht Amsterdam, in the fall of Rome. A paladin of Artemis and a friend. He will be missed. _

And then, smaller and right in the lower corner of the tablet was written simply the name  _ Sasha _ and a small etching of a dagger alongside it.

‘Tjelvar?’ There was something in Ed’s throat and he couldn’t - ‘Tjelvar, did they have English in Rome?’

‘No, Eddie,’ Tjelvar sounded distracted, and as though he might have something in his throat too. Ed wondered if he should be helping, but - ‘Wait, are you saying there’s something in English over there?’

‘Uh, yeah,’ Ed said. ‘I think - uh - I think Grizzop died? Um, but - something’s gone well weird.’

‘What?’ Tjelvar turned to come across the room, and after a quick glance at the stone, pulled a piece of paper from his back and began to make a rubbing, muttering under his breath.

Ed watched him for a second. The thing was, Ed was good at getting lost but he couldn’t understand - this seemed like it was far more lost than Ed had ever been.

‘Do you - did they - how old is this?’ Ed asked. He was sure he must be being slow but - ‘Did they get lost in, the past?’ He knew it didn’t make sense but - they hadn’t had time to carve this since they’d been back. Or, he didn’t think so?

‘It… seems that way, Eddie.’ Tjelvar murmured. ‘Would you - That is, I - Can you go and look at the cages in the pit and tell me they aren’t built to constrain giant creatures that can fly?’

Ed moved obediently, not really focussing on his feet, except for the moment when he passed into the bright sunlight and winced at its sudden pressure. He couldn’t stop - wasn’t he meant to have come to save Grizzop and Sasha? He had thought - he had hoped he might be able to fix things. To make something right and instead -

Grizzop was dead. Sasha was - dead too? And the wizard lady was probably gone as well. The fall of Rome was longer ago than even Elves could live - unless they had somehow managed to get lost forwards again in time. But Ed didn’t -

‘Eddie?’

Ed looked up. ‘Hello.’

‘I think they were keeping dragons here.’

‘Oh.’ Ed looked down into the pit he was stood by. ‘That would be a bad thing, right?’

‘Yes, Eddie.’

‘So that was probably the evil Rome did that needed to be smote, right?’

‘Maybe.’ Tjelvar’s face twisted in a peculiar way Ed didn’t understand. ‘Come on, I think we ought to go back upstairs, I’ll make notes when we’re back with everyone else.’

‘It’s alright,’ Ed said. ‘I can keep going.’

‘Yes, Eddie.’ Tjelvar lifted a hand as though he were going to make some large gesture, but dropped it back to his side, without a word. ‘I don’t know if this was your quest or not, but I think we might have found something that means I don’t really want to stay away from people right now.’

‘Oh, alright then.’

Ed began to trudge back towards the entrance they’d come in, his head buzzing in confusion. Perhaps the others would know what to say to Tjelvar because he couldn’t put into words what he was thinking at all.

\---

The sun was shining brightly barely two foot from Ed, the sharp line between light and shadow etching its fierceness. Every part of Ed wanted to sit in it - to bask in the light and - but then, every part of him also didn’t. Ed lifted his eyes again to scan the surroundings, his hand gripping gently on the morningstar beside him. 

Einstein was due to be arriving soon - in an hour or so, if Ed had managed to keep track properly this time. And then they would be able to get back to Cairo and - quarantine and - Apollo would be back.

Ed instinctively reached out again to that place where Apollo was. And recoiled just as fast, swallowing down the bitter taste in his mouth.

‘Apollo.’ It was barely more than a whisper. ‘If you can hear me, just… I- I’m still trying to do what you want. That’s all. I hope you’re not mad at me.’

He let the words trail off. He didn’t even know if Apollo  _ could _ hear him here or if it was just the hateful, painful presence. Ed really wished he could ask someone what the presence was. He thought it might help to know - there wasn’t supposed to be such anger in such a small place but, maybe that was just him being so accustomed with Apollo, and the feeling of sunlight in Ed’s veins and the tinkling laughter and song that came so naturally from it.

He caught a glimpse of a shadow above the buildings and shot to his feet, turning to see if he could get a clearer look, but it seemed to divert away just as fast.

If there was any blessing of the strange energy that emanated from the building, it would be the way it seemed to keep all the other horrors of Rome at bay. Ed relaxed his grip around his weapon a little, and continued to watch carefully. He was responsible for getting everyone home now, he wasn’t going to fail in that as well as everything else.

‘Eddie?’ Tjelvar’s voice broke through his stillness. ‘Is everything okay?’

Ed glanced again, just to check. ‘Yeah - I thought I saw something, but it left.’

‘Good.’ Tjelvar’s footsteps drew closer, and Ed turned to face him a little, unwilling to sit back down as he had before. ‘That’s good. Do you have all your things ready to leave?’

‘Yeah.’ Ed tried to smile, but it felt so wrong without the sunshine flicking against the back of his mind. ‘Maram made me before I took over the watch. I didn’t bring much.’

‘No. I guess you didn’t have much to gather.’

Ed looked at Tjelvar again, trying to figure out what was going on in the orc’s face, but there was almost nothing to be revealed.

‘Apollo - I wasn’t, supposed to be here long.’ Ed still didn’t know if he’d done any of what he was supposed to have done. He had no idea altogether what had happened. ‘Did you find anything else from the - uh - passages?’

Tjelvar paused for a moment. ‘It’s hard to say. We were mapping everything out, predominantly, and I have sketches now of the major areas - not good ones, but better than nothing. It should allow for some study when we leave, especially combined with the sketches and finds I had recorded at Ostia. Not that we have the primary sources anymore, but I do at least have the documentation. Perhaps when this infection is over I’ll be able to - but you don’t really care about that.’

‘No, it’s - I don’t understand everything,’ Ed said, a little self consciously. ‘I’m not an archeologist like you or anything, but it is interesting.’

Tjelvar hummed slightly. ‘You realise you aren’t to talk to anyone about what we found in the main cavern, yes?’

Ed nodded. ‘Upon my honour as a Paladin. I already promised.’

‘Yes, well - Eddie, do you realise what we found?’

‘Grizzop and Sasha and so probably the wizard lady as well, all got thrown back in time somehow in the plane travel in the portal. You said.’ Ed folded his arms across his chest uncomfortably, and then remembered he was supposed to be keeping watch, so carefully scanned their surroundings as well.

‘Yes. And I promise we’ll tell people about that - You said Curie was in charge of things in Cairo, so probably her. I don’t mean for your friends to be forgotten. But -’

‘I was supposed to find them.’ Ed said quietly. ‘Apollo sent me and I - why would he - how did I do that wrong?’

Tjelvar frowned, swaying nearer to Ed for a moment and then back again. ‘I don’t think you did, Eddie? You saved our lives.’

‘Yeah but -’

‘And I told you the find was important - I would love to come back of course, maybe when the infection is over and everything is slightly less precarious. I can hardly believe no one has come here to learn what there is to learn but I suppose -’

‘The cult of Mars don’t let people in or out,’ Ed said. ‘I don’t think you’d be allowed in when everyone is back to normal.’

‘But, the history is so important - Eddie you saw those cages - six of them, big enough for dragons. You can’t think that is some kind of coincidence, surely?’

‘I don’t know, Apollo isn’t here. They could have been doing all sorts of evil. But-’ Ed considered it for a moment. ‘I wouldn’t want people to know that I’d been locked up once, if I thought people might do it again.’

‘But it changes the entire mythos of our history, Eddie. This isn’t just some small thing, this is - this shakes everything that we’ve ever believed about the Meritocrats and where they came from and what their intentions towards humanity have been. That’s - that’s world changing. That’s the kind of history you don’t expect to just uncover and it raises so many questions and it - we can’t be the first people to realise this Eddie, surely? But then, if we are?’

Tjelvar shook his head.

‘The Meritocrats have all gone away anyway,’ Ed said, ‘So I don’t know that it’d make much difference.’

Tjelvar just looked at him with a curious half smile on his face.

‘And if they are evil, then someone must have noticed by now. All the cults would have done something. So they must not be evil. So maybe it’ll be okay to just have a conversation with them, to understand? They’d probably tell us. If they aren’t evil, I mean.’

‘I wish I had your faith in the world, Eddie,’ Tjelvar said somewhat faintly. ‘But either way, I wonder if this wasn’t what Apollo wanted you to find. Sending you back here I mean - not that I know much about how your paladinning all works exactly. But -’

‘You said before you thought he’d sent me to find you.’ Ed said. It wasn’t exactly a question. He hated it here, not knowing if he was doing the right thing or not. Not understanding anything.

‘Maybe it was both - sent to save some friends and figure out what happened to the others?’ Tjelvar offered. ‘Look, anyway, I think you may as well come inside now, so we can make sure everyone else is ready for when your - Professor Einstein arrives.’

‘I’m supposed to keep watch,’ Ed said, trying to sort out the threads of his thought. ‘Maram said.’

‘And now I’m saying it’s fine.’ Tjelvar repeated. ‘Look it’s - you did good Eddie. We’re safe now, come on.’

Ed smiled, he couldn’t help it. ‘You think?’

‘Hmm?’

‘That I did good - Apollo will be happy with me?’

‘What - of -’ Tjelvar frowned. ‘Yes Eddie.’ He reached out and tapped him on the arm gently. ‘I think he’ll be happy with you.’

**Author's Note:**

> I want to thank my beta, Fiona, and both the artists I was paired with for this big bang!  
> The lovely art in this was done by [Alllexia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryDilge), who can be found [@igobyalllexia](https://twitter.com/igobyalllexia) on twitter.  
> And [KDHeart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart) made a wonderful podfic of this, so check that out too!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Towards the Sun [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26239417) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)




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